The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1887-03-23
THE MIGHTY MISSOURI
rs Creating Sad Havoc at Bismarck
and Mandan,
p1iqzard Joins Forces With the Flood
The Gorge Six Miles in Length and
solid as a Stone WalI~The Boats
are Safe, for Which We
Have just Cause
to Rejoice.
: eoecial to the River Press.

eoecfal to the River Press.
HELENA, March 19.-Bismarck and
uandan dispatches state that there is
great flood in the Missouri at that point,
cansed by ice gorges. Mandan is over
aowed and the water is over Main street
and up to the inter Ocean hotel. The
high trestle approach to the n. z. railroad
bridge on the west side has been badly
damaged, and it is feared that no trains
win be able to pass the bridge for a week.
The great warehouse Of the N. p railroad
an the Bismarck side, which is 700 feet
long, was moved bodily over thirty feet
and sent crashing against the bluffs. The
river, which is usually three-quarters of
mile wide, is now six miles wide. The
steamboats, at Rock Haven are said to be
in danger The river has cut new chan
mel across the prairie and is falling slowly,
but the worst is not yet come. The ice
went out at Fort Buford on the morning
of the 18th with a thirty foot rise, the
highest ever known. The flood will prob
ably reach Bismarck to-day, when there
will likely be terrible destruction. Tele-
graph poles have been swept away at Bis
marck and Mandan and communication
with the east cut off.
HELENA, March 21.-Mandan adyices
up to midnight of the 10Th state that The
mighty flood still maintains its unabated
height. The loss in dwellings, road-beds,
telegraph lines and railroad property gem
erally is enormous. No communication
has been had with Bismarck for thirty
six hours. The river has fallen a few
inches but this has been owing to a reduc
ton of the inpouring waters, as the great
gorge at Sibley still remains unbroken,
Notwithstanding that superhuman exer-
ertons have been made to remove it by
the use of dynamite. The gorge is six
miles long and the ice is packed solidly
from the bottom of the river to q height
of thirty feet.
To add to the utter desolation a terrible
blizzard set in about noon, and up to mid
night, when the last dispatches were re-
ceiyed, it still ragged furiously, the air be-
ing filled with pelting snow and the ther-
mometer dropped rapidly to 2O0 above.
Many people who have been driven from
their homes by the floods and taken refuge
in the high lands are without adequate
protection. and there will be much suffer
ING and probably some deaths from ex-
posure.
At six p. m. q telegraph message was
received at Mandan from Fort Lincoln
that number of people could be seen on
the opposite shore from the fort, surround
ed by water and with no apparent means
Of escape. In order to get a telegram
from Mandan to Bismarck notifying them
10 send a relief party down to the rescue,
the message had to be wired through Hell
ena, Portland, San Francisco, Ogden,
Omaha and st. Paul, distance Of nearly
5000 miles, to reach point only foUr
miles away by the usual route.
The great gorge has forced the river out
Of its usual channel, and on the Mandan
side it is rushing through the streets like
a mill-race. On the Bismarck side it is
rushing through the great bottom below
The town and cutting new channels. Lit
lie Heart river flows into the Missouri I
Just below Mandan, and should it break,
the flood will be backed into Mandan.
The great rise from Fort Buford is re-
ported to be half way down, and if the
gorge holds till it arrives it will make the
lighest water ever known and Mandan
WI be in danger of total annihilation.
Bismarck dispatches via st. Paul and
FIgden give much the same story as is re-
jated from Mandan. The boats which had
oeen sent down to rescue the party oppo-
site Fort Lincoln have miraculously ac
complished their mission and found their
way back, Notwithstanding the hcwling
Alzzard and binding snow. Dutch Mike
E'hd Thomas White were rescued from a
lOuse; II. Mccarthy and wife and c. A.
Ebeale were rescued from a mound, the
water being within six inches of them.
large number of emigrants are de-
Hayed at Bismarck. The Northern Pacific
i returning east what passengers desire ir.
A dispatch to the Herald. dated Mandar,
80 p. m. to-day, says: The water is .
glsing about an inch per hour. Many
Streets in Mandan are under water, but no
great damage has been done. The gorge {
below this point still holds, refusing to ,
give way. This morning "A party of doz
m people walked over tire bridge from ;
Bismarck to Mandan, the first communi-
alton between the two points since the t
yer broke. Several of the party got d i
were ducking, but no one was injured. ,
ne water cannot rise much higher with {